My birthday weekend was fun but the following few days I was stressed out!

Monday started out the week with the vet out at lunch to draw blood from the boys (Prophecy ACTH and Sully Lyme testing).

Tuesday I spent worrying about farriers and planning out how I might remove the shoes myself (rasp, screwdriver and pliers method).

Wednesday evening rolled around and I finally got a farrier out to pull Sully’s shoes and discuss his interest in being used long term and our needs. Can you guess what the farrier found in pulling the shoes? A few bad nail placements (“hot nails”) on the RF, definitely causing him pain and Sully made that clear when he snatched away the foot. His hooves were only touched up to break any sharp or flaking points from the nails and we agreed to leave him barefoot for a bit. I put some hoof armor on that evening and I’m to give a call back when he has grown some hoof back to re-trim and get back into the composite shoes. Prophecy will be overdue by then, so looks like I’ll be breaking out the rasp again!

Thursday morning, as I expected, Sully trotted up sound for breakfast and was much more willing to step on the trailer when we loaded up that afternoon. It was also our first day back on rotations at work (after 3 weeks of everyone in office FT), and of course ended up being an at-work day for me. The boys were rather confused as I don’t normally hook up in the middle of the day so they were hanging over the electric fenced trailer zone watching the whole time. I got on the road right in the timing I hoped for and went up a bit north to pick up a friend and her mare for their first clinic with us 🙂 Sully and Tara rode well down to Warm Springs and Aleta and I enjoyed chatting and learning more about each other. We hit some crazy rain so it never got super hot for them, and we arrived right into a downpour at Pam’s barn! We took a chance and put them in the field together and had no drama so we let them be without splitting the pasture, as all 3 of us were drenched and cold. Then there was a quick stop to pickup dinner, and finally off to Jaime’s to eat, shower and get some rest for a full day Friday!

Friday morning we arrived at Pam’s to see Sully and Tara happily hanging together grazing and no issues overnight. Sully and I had our lesson right after Pam, so I watched the last part of her lesson from the top of the hill while tacking him up and letting him have breakfast. We all crack up over her horse and how “chill” he is…not much rattles him and he readily snoozes the moment he is standing still. She is far more advanced in her riding than many of us, so it is really cool to see where things can go in the future; yet you also learn that it all comes back to the basics / foundational movements and fixing any miscommunication, misunderstandings, or holes.

Emily and I had spoken via email prior to the clinic about my issues with Sully and the kicking at horses behind, so we took right to working on that. We worked on his hind-quarter yielding as a tool to have him get that butt out of the way if he has a thought of kicking when near another horse. You know, those times when you want to scream “Mover Over!” I had to remember to be “Dumb as a Post”… to keep holding strong, and let him find the release. We did this at a walk and trot (which also showed me he was slightly off on the left turn at a trot) and the more we practiced the technique, the softer we both became. The way you gather the reins – slow, and light – and close your hand around it – a finger at at time – versus a “snatch and jerk” to get a result (I try not to do that, but am guilty of mistakes) – it all comes together to where you barely have to lift a rein to get the response (we aren’t there yet, but working on it!). Sully has a lot of brace left in him from his racing days, and I just didn’t pay much attention to it – I did the classic thing of meeting him strongly in my own corrections. I need to only meet him to a point and hold strong – be dumb as a post and let him seek the release. And what do I gain from that? I saw and felt it Friday – our turns and cues riding around the arena were softer and without bracing.

Saturday we tested this new tool out with the help of Jaime and Brandea on their mares. We worked on being approached & approaching others from the front and side, and he definitely has a big “personal space bubble”. We all learned how to inform our horses that proximity to others is OK, and there is only me & you in the herd (everyone else has their own different herd, so no horsey socializing!).

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In other news, I sent in a pasture and soil analysis and those reports came back over the weekend; I think I have made some sense of it with the local Ag office’s help…now the land owner is working on setting up the lime and fertilizing plan with the guy who maintains/mows the pasture as requested.

Prophecy’s ACTH came back in the normal range, so no cushings/PPID. We aren’t out of the “danger zone” yet when it comes to grass, but he has lost too much weight so giving him time muzzle free. I have been monitoring his crest and hoof heat since removing it and he may only need the muzzle during the height of growing times vs. all summer long it seems. Sully does not have chronic Lyme and was barely positive for an acute Lyme infection, which means we could wait and retest in fall or treat now and establish a new baseline after treatment; and also means it was not likely the source of his prior lameness. I am planning to have x-rays done as his last were in 2018 at his pre-purchase exam so now is as good a time as any given our issues to check in and make sure we are making the correct adjustments.

In addition to our tools learned, we have some saddle tweaking to do based on the dirt the marks on his pad. It is crazy how fast they can change and Emily noted how different he looked even since May when we first got the saddle. Next will be a virtual appointment to work on padding so we can get back out on the trails soon. 🐴 And I’m also dropping the trailer off next week to have the brakes checked because it just didn’t respond as strongly as previous trips so want that checked before continuing to haul to rides!